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Commencement Honors 607 Graduates

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Hope College Commencement speaker Ronald Wolthuis turned a familiar motto around as
he offered the Class of 2002 his advice for navigating the future.

Wolthuis presented "In You, God Trusts" on Sunday, May 5, at Holland Municipal Stadium.
Brandishing a dollar, he credited a newspaper column with prompting him to consider
the words of the bill's motto in a new order and a new way: as a call to action.

"Every time you use, or look at, a coin or bill, not only can you remember that God
is trustworthy--In God We Trust--but you should also consider something else--something
that sounds a bit incredible--In You, God Trusts," he said. "Our wish for you is that
you will leave this place to make the kinds of differences God expects and trusts
you to make."

Approximately 4,500 attended this year's Commencement, the college's 137th. More than
600 Hope seniors participated, including graduates from throughout the United States
and from foreign nations including Belgium, Bosnia, Cyprus, the Democratic Republic
of the Congo, Ethiopia, Japan, Kenya, Nepal, the Netherlands and South Africa.

Before outlining thoughts for how the graduates might approach the future, Wolthuis
considered the past and the present.

"Your presence here today is not an accident," he said. "All of you have traveled
interesting, complex and, in some instances, difficult paths to make it here today."

"Perhaps the best way to view the difficulties most of us encounter in life is to
see them as God's way of polishing us like a rough stone, held in His hands," Wolthuis
said. "He grinds off some of our rough corners and edges, polishing us with experiences,
challenges, choices and changes."

He encouraged the graduates to spend the event itself reflecting on the moments and
people that helped shape their college experience. "These people and experiences have
become a permanent part of who you are today, and have done as much, perhaps even
more, than a course, or a lab experience or field experience that you'd enrolled in
for credit," he said.

In considering God's trust, Wolthuis outlined five tasks for the graduates: "take
care of the earth," "work for peace and justice," "transform culture," "live compassionate
lives," and "be faithful representatives of the person and work of Jesus Christ to
a world that is so broken and desperate for good news."

"First of all, God trusts you to take care of His creation," he said, "Frankly, we
humans have made quite a mess of this world. With the tons of waste being carted to
landfills or dumped in our lakes and rivers, our world needs some serious care."

"God also trusts you to work for peace and harmony in the world. I doubt it's going
to be necessary to convince you of this need," Wolthuis said. "As we sit here today,
we know that throughout this community, state, country and world, strife and conflict
are rampant. We simply cannot continue to scream at, hit, hurt and kill one another."

"God trusts you to transform culture. Our media seems to be telling girls and women
that their worth is primarily defined by the size and shape of their bodies. The same
media suggests that the value of men should primarily be defined by their athletic
abilities, sexual conquests or bank accounts. In the event that we can resist these
influences, we find ourselves inundated by messages telling us that our happiness
is contingent on the number, or value, of our possessions," he said. "God trusts you
to represent His voice to a culture that's lost its moral moorings."

"God trusts you to cultivate a compassionate heart, to learn the difference between
sympathy and empathy. He expects you to keep growing in your heart for the poor, the
disabled and all the marginalized of society," Wolthuis said. "I am acutely aware
of our tendency to judge others, to point out how and in what ways they fall short
of the expectations we and others have for them. Please realize that when we are critical
or judgmental of others, we lose our capacity to empathize with, and have compassion
for, them."

"Finally, and most importantly, we know from the Great Commission found in Matthew
28 that God has entrusted you with the task of faithfully and accurately representing
the person and message of Jesus Christ in the world," he said. "Another New Testament
author said it this way, 'Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks
you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and
respect.'"

By keeping the five tasks in mind, and equipped with their own abilities and training,
the graduates, he noted, will be in a position to make a difference.

"This world not only needs the knowledge, gifts and many talents you have; it also
desperately needs individuals who will work to restore some semblance of hope and
trust," he said. "With God's help, and the constant awareness of 'In You, God Trusts,'
the 607 of you can do great things for God."

The college's Baccalaureate service took place earlier in the day. Dr. Leanne Van
Dyk, professor of Reformed Theology at Western Theological Seminary, delivered the
address, "Faith Enough to Wait," in Dimnent Memorial Chapel.

She based her text on Lamentations 3:25-30. The Old Testament passage notes that God
is good to those who wait for Him and seek Him, providing hope no matter what difficulties
are encountered.

One challenge for those living in the 21st century, she said, is to be patient in
weathering life's challenges.

"We don't know how to wait," she said. "We lost the skill of waiting some time ago.
Maybe we lost it with the invention of canned food. No more waiting for green bean
season. Open a can. Maybe we lost it with the invention of the credit car. No more
waiting to buy stuff. No deferred consumer gratification. Charge it. Maybe we lost
the skill of waiting with the invention of the telephone -- or the cellphone -- or
the internet."

She noted a "stubbornness" in the way the passage's author refused to give in to despair.
"For Jeremiah knew -- we know -- that the Lord will not reject forever," she said.
"The mood of waiting, then, is not one of defeatist gloom."

"Refusing to give in to the despair that can so engulf inner cities, Christians as
stubborn as Jeremiah say, 'The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul
that seeks him,' she said. "So they seek by sweeping up broken glass, by shutting
down crack houses, by opening up excellent day care for children, by pestering city
officials to help."

The same sensibility, Van Dyk said, can guide the graduates whatever the future may
bring.

"Things are actually not what they seem, says our stubborn prophet. When your face
is in the dust, when you bear the yoke in silence, don't conclude that God has abandoned
you" she said. "Have faith enough to wait. God will have compassion, according to
the abundance of his steadfast love."